Two weeks ago I argued that, as a politician, real action on reducing carbon emissions is always going to be more about what individuals do than just what Governments do.
That’s why yesterday I was excited to learn about a new initiative called one million women (www.1millionwomen.com.au). Now I doubt I would agree with the politics of all those backing this scheme, but that’s not the point.
What I agree with is their focus on keeping the politics out of this debate and focussing on the practical choices of individual Australian women.
If I could paraphrase, it’s all about empowering Australian women to take some power back about our environmental future – and by that I don’t mean political power. They are simply providing women with tools to assist their own consumption choices and not compromise the quality of life their families enjoy.
This is an initiative that seems to be trying to bypass politics and encourage changes to mainstream behaviour. On the website I did not find any lectures about climate change, there are no ‘dob in a sceptic’ hotlines or links to the ALP website (although there are several links to State Government websites who are supporting the programme). Rather, their supporters include BP Australia, Telstra, the Australian Womens Weekly and Margaret Fulton.
They make a good point. 70% of purchasing decisions in the home are made by women. They have the power to change more of our household behaviour than anyone. I know that’s true in my house, I live with three beautiful women – two of whom are under the age of three – so their influence will only increase.
More than 20 years ago recyclers were seen as ’tree dwellers’ and using a roll on deodorant was the equivalent of bra burning feminism. In addition, having a water tank and designing your home to manage your energy efficiency was seen as an ‘alternative lifestyle’. Thankfully, this has all changed today, and for the better. These decisions are now simple mainstream common sense.
While everyone gets carried away with Copenhagen and the ETS, surely the real issue remains what changes we are going to make. Electricity prices are already going up and we are all very conscious of how much we spend on petrol. Our decisions on these issues this year will have a far greater impact on what we can spend on presents for our kids this Christmas, than probably anything else.
The challenge for ‘One Million Women’ will be to protect themselves from the Climate Institutes and others, including politicians, who will seek to peddle their political messages through this forum.
I note that their upcoming seminar series includes speakers from Labor Governments, former Labor staffers and the Greens – but no-one from the Liberal Party. In the future it would be good for them to take a more a bipartisan approach. My preference is that they keep it real by keeping the politicians and climate change warriors out of it.
The day Julia Gillard turns up on the website is the day I will start to become cynical and see this as just another Getup initiative to get out the Labor vote. I hope they prove me wrong.
Advocating the case for a renewed focus on individual action does not provide a leave pass for politicians to walk away from actions by Governments. We’ll be dealing with one of those this week. But if you seriously think we hold all the answers and everyone else can just sit back feeling self righteous about having berated the Government, the Opposition or their local MP, then you’re kidding yourself.
The end game of our actions must be to impact people’s behaviour – not convert them to some new religious cause. How you do this by insulting people who have a different view to you and going out every day preaching to your own choir about how morally superior you are, is beyond me. But this is what we are seeing from the Rudd Labor Government on their flawed ETS.
Last week in Parliament Labor had the opportunity to create some good faith with the Opposition on their proposed ETS and failed. Instead they came into the Parliament every day, hurling insults and threats and taking the opportunity to play up the politics. Yet they maintain they want to do the right thing by the environment.
Fortunately one leader in Australian politics, Malcolm Turnbull, rose above the ruck and genuinely put the long term interests of future generations first - at some political cost to himself. When was the last time you saw Kevin Rudd do that?
As Opposition Leader, Malcolm stayed focussed on the negotiations, despite the challenges and distractions. If the environment came before politics, then the Prime Minister would have sought to help rather than hinder Malcolm Turnbull from achieving an outcome that the vast majority of Australians want – action on climate change that does not prejudice jobs and our economic future – in short, giving the planet the benefit of the doubt.
The momentum for how we become conscious of our environmental decisions is always assisted when the politics come out of it and the issue is allowed to gain mainstream acceptance. At present I believe the self righteous politics of climate change, pro and con, is the main stumbling block for achieving this shift.
Most importantly it is disenfranchising and seeking to polarise the great majority of Australians, both in terms of their own views and more importantly, their own behaviour. We need to get this debate back to the individual.
It’s about informed choices and responsible action. And that’s what One Million Women seems to be trying to do. I wish them well, just keep Julia and Kevin away from your media conferences – many have tried and failed.
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